Dr Margo Orum

Psychologist

It was first built
to serve as an online leaflet for the part-time private psychology practice I started in the early 2000s.

In recent times it has been changed to reflect the main learning aspects of my life,
research, and contribution to date, which are:

My journey through bipolar disorder, especially in the hardest years of
the illness, 1985-1992, which I wrote about in an early autobiography, Fairytales in Reality,
published by Macmillan in 1996.

Becoming a psychologist in private practice in the year 2000.

Researching how adults change – especially when they experience sudden
moments of insight which transform their sense of self. This fascination
started with my PhD thesis, 1998-2003, and continues
to this day.

Avidly reading, ever since 1991, a wide variety of books which throw light
on psychological and spiritual aspects of personal growth. Although my
initial drive came from a need to understand how bipolar had suddenly
and mysteriously entered my life in 1985 and how to manage it – my
primary interest and focus has changed in the last couple of decades. I am
now more interested in the broader picture of personal growth and
how change happens in the human condition in general.

Creating and growing a private psychology practice,Open Sky
Psychology, which currently has a staff of seven dedicated therapists.

Without question, the last 8 years of growing my private psychology practice
into a small business has been the toughest, most demanding, exhausting and
challenging aspect of my journey so far.

Without that particular latest struggle, the rest would be just an illness recovery
story. And I would not have grown in the direction I am now pleased to find
myself heading in: writing a book which summarises some of my learnings from
all of the bullet points above, in the hope that this might help fellow travellors
who wrangle with how to make the best sense we can, out what life has to offer
all of us.